CLIO Dependencies

May 30, 2026 · View on GitHub

Philosophy

CLIO is designed to work with minimal dependencies using standard Unix tools. We deliberately avoid:

Heavy framework dependencies
Node.js/npm/JavaScript ecosystems
Python/pip dependencies
CPAN modules (zero external Perl dependencies)
Docker-only deployment

Result: CLIO works on a clean Unix system with Perl 5.32+ installed.

Quick Verification

./check-deps

This checks Perl version, required system commands, and optional tools.

Required Dependencies

Perl 5.32 or Higher

CLIO uses zero external CPAN modules. Everything works with core modules included in Perl 5.32+.

perl -v

Platform	Command
macOS	Pre-installed or `brew install perl`
Debian/Ubuntu	`sudo apt install perl`
RHEL/Fedora	`sudo dnf install perl`
Arch Linux	`sudo pacman -S perl`

System Commands

All typically pre-installed on Unix-like systems:

Command	Purpose	Package
`git`	Version control operations	git
`curl`	HTTP requests, API calls, updates	curl
`stty`	Terminal mode control	coreutils
`tput`	Terminal capability queries	ncurses-bin
`tar`	Archive extraction for updates	tar

Verify:

which git curl stty tput tar

Install if missing:

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt install git curl coreutils ncurses-bin tar

# RHEL/Fedora
sudo dnf install git curl coreutils ncurses tar

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -S git curl coreutils ncurses tar

# macOS
xcode-select --install  # Includes git; others are pre-installed

Perl Core Modules Used

No installation needed - these ship with Perl 5.32+:

Module	Purpose
`JSON::PP`	JSON parsing (auto-upgraded to JSON::XS if available)
`File::*`	File operations (Spec, Path, Basename, Copy, Find, Temp)
`Time::HiRes`, `Time::Piece`	Time operations
`Digest::MD5`	Checksums
`Encode`	UTF-8 handling
`POSIX`	System interfaces, process groups
`Cwd`	Directory operations
`Getopt::Long`	Command-line parsing
`Term::ReadKey`	Terminal input (bundled with CLIO in `lib/`)

Optional Performance Enhancement

Module	Purpose	Installation
`JSON::XS`	10x faster JSON parsing	`cpan JSON::XS`

CLIO's CLIO::Util::JSON module automatically detects and uses the fastest JSON encoder available (JSON::XS > Cpanel::JSON::XS > JSON::PP fallback).

Optional Tools

Terminal Multiplexers (Auto-Detected)

When running inside a multiplexer, CLIO executes terminal commands in a separate pane:

Multiplexer	Detection
tmux	`$TMUX` environment variable
GNU Screen	`$STY` environment variable
Zellij	`$ZELLIJ_SESSION_NAME` environment variable

MCP (Model Context Protocol) Support

MCP connects CLIO to external tool servers. At least one runtime is needed:

Command	Purpose	Installation
`npx`	Run MCP servers from npm	Comes with Node.js
`uvx`	Run Python-based MCP servers	`pip install uv`
`python3`	Run Python MCP servers	Usually pre-installed

If none are found, MCP is silently disabled. See MCP.md for details.

SSH (for Remote Execution)

Command	Purpose
`ssh`	Remote system connectivity
`rsync`	Efficient file transfer to remotes

Required only if using the remote_execution tool. See REMOTE_EXECUTION.md.

Docker (for Container Sandbox)

Required only for clio-container sandboxed execution:

Requirement	Purpose
Docker Engine or Docker Desktop	Container runtime
`docker` CLI	Container management

See SANDBOX.md.

Troubleshooting

"stty: command not found" or "tput: command not found"

Terminal input/output behaves incorrectly:

sudo apt install coreutils ncurses-bin  # Debian/Ubuntu
sudo dnf install coreutils ncurses      # RHEL/Fedora

"curl: command not found"

Updates, web search, and API calls fail:

sudo apt install curl  # Debian/Ubuntu
sudo dnf install curl  # RHEL/Fedora
brew install curl      # macOS

"git: command not found"

Version control operations fail:

sudo apt install git   # Debian/Ubuntu
sudo dnf install git   # RHEL/Fedora
xcode-select --install # macOS